


Rainy Day Black Out

by CPuff



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Edge is a giant Tsundere baby, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Please remember to eat, Reader is a self concious dork, Red is an anxious mess, Self-Indulgent, Sickfic, everyone has a lot of feelings, sick reader, worried skeletons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 05:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CPuff/pseuds/CPuff
Summary: The Landlady (Reader) is feeling a little under the weather, but instead of taking care of herself she decides ignoring it is the better option. It is not. Also it turns out Skeleton monsters are not super clued up on Human health.





	Rainy Day Black Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9816140) by [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/pseuds/Tyrant_Tortoise). 



> A while ago I wrote a very self indulgent hurt/comfort thing taking place in Tyranttortoise‘s “SSLL” fanfic. Partly as a way to show myself it’s ok to write something even if it’s very self indulgent and partly to try my hand at something relatively quick. However it ended up having the opposite effect and I became super self conscious as a result. But I've finally gotten the courage to post it. But only just.

There was something about the weekend that made everyone idle and lazy (or lazier in some cases). Normally some residents of the lodge would still manage to be immune, but it’d been raining all day; a fatal combo to any productivity. The residence of the lodge had all wandered off to their own interests as the continuous white noise of the downpour outside lulled the house into a sluggish daze.

Part of you was relieved for the slower pace, even if just for one day. As much as you enjoyed your time with your housemates, there were times you really felt the need to just sit down for a second and catch your breath. Not because you grew tired of _them_ specifically, but because you were pretty sure monsters must have some kind of internal motor to keep them going even when you felt like you needed a 12 hour nap.

At some point Blue had tried to convince the rest of the lodge to join him in what he enthusiastically called “BOARD-GAMES WITH THE BLUEBERRY ENHANCEMENT!”, but after it became clear no-one else was interested in the idea, he’d wandered off to play video games instead. Papyrus took pity on him and joined him after a few minutes, however even their excited yells and competitive teasing seemed to lack their usual energy. When you wandered past the lounge a while later you were pretty sure they’d settled into some brightly coloured version of golf rather than Blue’s usual preference of tournament fighters.

Sans had disappeared down to the basement at some point when you weren’t looking, although whether he was working or napping down there was anyone’s guess. Edge had planted himself on the couch and was currently ‘observing’ Blue and Papyrus’ game, which mostly involved insults and “helpful suggestions” on how the two of them could improve their gameplay. Originally it seemed Red had thought to join them, but apparently had gotten bored pretty fast and wandered off to his room. Stretch, currently evicted from his favourite napping spot, was nowhere to be seen, though if you had to guess you’d say he was probably sleeping in his own room for once.

As for yourself, you’d considered joining Edge as a spectator, but the truth was you hadn’t been feeling so great for the past couple of days.

It was nothing serious. You knew you weren’t sick or anything. Or at least you hoped not. But you’d been feeling woozy and slightly nauseous since Thursday. You wondered if you might be slightly anaemic, or if the last cooking lesson you’d tried to give Blue and Papyrus had got to you more than usual in the “TRY MY NEWEST ATTEMPT!” department. Not that you’d ever say it out loud. Honestly you’d rather die of food poisoning before you’d consider letting either of them know their cooking might actually have made you physically ill. Not that it mattered right now. The more you thought about it the less you felt food was the cause.

You retreated to your loft for the day instead. You’d been meaning to read a book you haven’t found the time for and with the lodge uncharacteristically quiet (apart from Edge’s scattered cries of “WERE YOU DELIBERATELY TRYING TO IGNORE THE WIND FACTOR?!”) now seemed as good a time as any to try and get into it.

You must have gotten into it more than you realised because by the time you’d broken out of your reading induced trance and realised how hungry you were, it was already getting dark. Edge was no longer sporadically breaking the silence from downstairs, so you figured the game was either over, or he’d gotten bored and gone to find someone else to focus his attention on.

You sigh and put the book down, heading downstairs to see what in the fridge was edible. You find yourself running your hand along the wall to steady yourself as you walk downstairs. You’d definitely gone way too long without food. You’d forgotten lunch before when you got really wrapped up in something but feeling sick had done nothing to help you remember. Now you were paying for it as it feels like someone stuffed your head full of cotton. You open the fridge and start digging around, trying to find something that looks appetising.

Nothing does. But you manage to talk yourself into at least cutting some cheese to put on crackers. Supposedly cheese was a good 'emergency’ food, or so you had read somewhere once.

You turn at the sound of someone else coming into the kitchen. Stretch looks as if he’s been asleep for the past 40 years. He rolls a shoulder lazily as he takes note of what you were holding.

“cheese for dinner?” he asks. He almost looks disappointed.

You chuckle, walking to the cutting board. “I have no idea. I think we’re all just doing our own thing. Everyone’s too mellowed out today to do any real cooking.”

Stretch leans against the door-frame as he gives a smirk which quickly devolves into a stifled yawn. “that might _brie_ for the best, really. i overheard blue mention something about a new recipe he found online he wanted to try. with 'improvements’.”

You laugh as you slice off uneven blocks. “Maybe I can get him to show it to me first and we can cook it together,” you say. “At least I can minimise the effect a little.”

Something brief crosses Stretch’s expression but its gone before you can notice it. You lapse into silence as he watches you arrange a plate for yourself. You turn to him when you realise he’d essentially been staring, and offer him the plate.

“Did you want some?”

He seems to wake up from his own thoughts and pushes off the door-frame. “nah. i think we have a box of fruit loops left.”

“Fruit loops for dinner?” You feel yourself grin at him, raising an eyebrow.

“nothing on the box sayin’ you can’t,” he shrugs, digging in the cabinets.

Although part of you doesn’t really see a problem with the concept of cereal for supper, another part of you feels a little outraged at this lack of self care (as you put down your plate of dry crackers topped with rather uninteresting cubes of cheese.)

“You can’t even settle for a bowl of ramen or something?”

“pretty sure fruit loops has ramen beat on the nutrition scale, hun,” He smiles, staring at the bowl in front of him as he debates on whether it’s worth adding milk.

You think about it for a moment before you sigh in resignation. You couldn’t really argue with that and don’t have the energy to try. You turn to pick up your plate again when a sudden dizzy spell hits you. Luckily, you had your hand on the table just as it happened, preventing you from swaying in place or grabbing a counter for balance.

Stretch is ducked into the fridge and reappears with the milk as you take a few seconds to gather yourself. You consider for a moment telling him you weren’t feeling great, but decide against it. It wasn’t worth having Stretch fret over something that would just be gone by tomorrow. You give your head a single shake before straightening and taking your plate.

“you seen blue around?” Stretch asks as he pours his bowl.

You shake your head, feeling suddenly self conscious and hoping he hadn’t notice you take a moment. “He was playing video games with Paps and Edge, but that was a while ago.”

Stretch nods, apparently to himself. “better take somethin’ up to him too.”

“Is giving Blue sugar after dark really a good idea?” You ask. You have no idea why. You’re still feeling dizzy and the longer you stay standing the worse you feel.

Stretch chuckles, “yeah, you might be right.” He turns to you, “you said somethin’ about ramen?”

His expression changes mid-sentence. His smile drops ever so slightly and his gaze seems to focus on you in intensity.

“Yeah, I think we have chicken flavour or something,” you hear yourself say, wondering why you haven’t turned and gone back to your room and your bed which were becoming more inviting by the second.

“right,” Stretch says, but he sounds distracted. He walks to the pantry but keeps his gaze on you from the corner of an eye-socket, a conflicted expression on his face.

Something seems out of place all of a sudden. You sound normal, but something about your stance seems off. Like you aren’t properly planted on the floor. There is also something distant in your eyes.

You rub your eyes, a little hard, “I’m gonna head back to the loft. I’ll see you later, Stretch.”

Stretch hums a response as he half-turns to fish out a packet of ramen. You start to finally head back upstairs when the room suddenly sways again. Behind you, Stretch closes the pantry and focuses his attention on you again. When he sees you standing in the doorway seemingly staring off into space he finally caves.

There is only so much weird behaviour he can take.

“everythin’ ok, hun?” He asks.

“Yeah, I’m ok” You say, running your free hand over your face. You sound anything but ok. “I think I just kinda waited too long before getting dinner.”

You attempt to chuckle and laugh it off but it doesn’t sound very convincing.

Stretch says nothing, but his gaze remains fixed on you. You try to gather yourself and focus on heading back to your room (and your bed) but the floor feels uneven as you attempt to head to the stairs.

Stretch turns to put the ramen down on the counter, convinced enough to walk you back to your room if nothing else. He turns back to you just in time to see the plate slip from your hand as you topple over.

It’s purely on instinct that Stretch throws out a hand towards you with a strangled gasp. The orange glow of his magic grabs you mid-fall and catches you as the plate hits the wood floor and smashes loudly in the quiet house. He hardly registers the sound as he’s already cleared the distance between you so he can put his actual hands on you.

“Y/N what…?” He starts, his voice riddled with confusion.

He swallows the end of the sentence as you fall limp in his arms as soon as he lets you go with his magic. He almost fumbles when he realises this, going from simply trying to steady you to wrapping you up in his arms and sinking to his knees.

He feels a chill run over his cheekbones and down his neck as his breath hitches. You’d passed out.

He automatically runs his gaze across your form, looking for signs of damage or injury as he lets his thoughts try and piece themselves together. Had he seen you today before now? Did he remember you being ok? What had you actually been doing all day? Did any of the others notice anything weird? Did they say anything and he’d just missed it while napping in his room?

There aren’t any signs that you’d been hurt and he shifts how he’s sitting, freeing one hand to desperately tap at your face, hoping to rouse you.

“Y/N,” his voice sounds surprisingly controlled to himself although he could tell it was shaking, “Y/N, hey. wake up.”

You don’t respond and he feels something twist painfully inside him. He breaks his gaze away from you to dig in one of his pockets for his phone. It comes stumbling out and he has to pick it up from the floor before he can get to his contacts.

“WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING DOWN THERE?!” A voice booms louder than necessary from upstairs.

Stretch was halfway through his contacts, looking for Sans, when the annoyed yell reminds him there are five other people less than two rooms away. He doesn’t bother locking his screen when he pockets his phone again before calling back.

“edge! i need you down here!”

Honestly Sans or Red would’ve been a better, but with Edge’s voice being the one to call out, his mind latched onto the first sign of help.

He searches your features, seriously considering if he should risk calling an ambulance. What do you do with humans? His first thoughts are about HP and SOULs and he almost considers checking, but holds back. There were other ways humans had for dealing with their health beyond that, right? What were they again? He knew he’d seen a few of them just from the movie marathons he’d had with the others but damn him if he could remember any useful details right now.

There’s the stomp of boots on wood as Edge marches across the living room slash entryway to see what the noise was about.

“THIS IS RIDICULOUS!” He’s ranting as he walks. “A FEW DROPS OF RAIN AND EVERYONE LOSES ALL CONTROL OVER THEIR MOTORSKILLS! YOU SHOULD ALL BE ROUNDED UP AND GIVEN SOME EXTREME-”

He stops dead in his tracks at the scene in front of him.

Stretch is kneeled on the ground, one arm cradling you (rather tightly) against him while his other hand is hovering uncertainly over your inert form. He looks up to meet Edge’s gaze and despite his restrained movements, Stretch’s face is a mask of fear and uncertainty.

Edge looks at his expression, then at you lying motionless in his arms, then back at Stretch before his eyesockets go wide as dinner plates and he stabs a finger towards you, taking a deep breath.

“ _SANS!! GET DOWN HERE!! THE ASH-TRAY KILLED Y/N!!”_

“what?!” Stretch blurts out, the idea making something inside him roll sickeningly. “no! she-!”

“ _WHAT?!”_ A much louder voice yells back and Stretch can’t tell if it makes the wooden building shake or if he was just trembling that badly at this point.

The word barely explodes from upstairs before Red is standing next to Edge. He’s sweating and although unseen, the prickle of barely contained magic sends a charge through the room.

Red takes one look at Stretch and-

“ _shit…_ ”

Red’s eyelights snuff out and Stretch subconsciously tightens his hold on you in horror. For the briefest of moments Red tenses and Stretch really does believe his friend is about to just charge at him and rip you out of his arms, but Red seems to catch himself and something almost like a shudder runs through him, eyelights returning. They dart back and forth between you and Stretch, seemingly trying to piece the scene in front of him together so it made some kind of sense. He visibly takes a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

A stampede of footsteps announces Papyrus and Blueberry storming onto the scene.

“WHAT WAS THAT?! IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU SAID-”

Papyrus runs almost directly into Red, the expression that crosses his face is enough to make Stretch actually stand up, picking you up with him as he’s about to defend himself. However, the tight, strangled noise from Blue almost literally knocks the breath out of him as he whips to his brother.

Blueberry is staring at you with an unreadable expression, and Stretch almost throws up.

“YOU FIEND!!” Edge starts yelling again, emboldened by the back-up. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!!”

“would you calm down for like five seconds?!” Stretch snaps at him, but Edge isn’t listening. 'Furious’ would be an understatement. Waves of anger seem to be rolling off him as each passing second Edge’s expression turns darker.

“YOU HAVE MADE A DIRE MISTAKE ANGERING THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!!” Somehow, the self-chosen title lacks all of its usual comedy.

Stretch’s gaze keeps flitting down to you as everything inside him screams that you still need help, but Edge’s voice is becoming more manic with every syllable. Stretch tears his attention away from you to turn to Red, hoping his friend will actually listen to him.

“red would you calm your brother down?! we were just talking and she passed out!”

Something in Red’s expression shifts and the flickering confusion sets itself into something more determined.

“LIAR!!” Edge interrupts before Red can so much as get a word out, pointing accusingly at Stretch again. “OUR HUMAN IS NOT SOME FRAGILE WILTING FLOWER!! SHE WOULD NOT JUST 'PASS OUT’ FOR NO REASON!! YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO HER!!”

“boss wait!” Red springs to the rescue, tearing his gaze away from you long enough to turn to Edge, realising the mounting danger. “stretch ain’t the kinda guy to hurt anyone! i say we hear him out!”

“THAT’S RIGHT!” Papyrus is quick to jump in. “THERE HAS TO BE SOME KIND OF MISTAKE HERE!”

“THE ONLY MISTAKE IS THAT _THAT_ GUY IS STILL STANDING!!”

Edge doesn’t even look at either Papyrus or Red, his voice a furious shriek at this point as he suddenly whips his arm in a wide arc and a halo of spear-point-sharp bones appear above him, all pointed towards the two of you.

“WAIT, NO!!” Papyrus yells, but his voice is overpowered by the much louder cry from Blue who immediately jumps to stand between Edge and his target. Red swears sharply, spinning to face his brother although indecision stops him from taking any kind of action.

Stretch readies his arm as his last nerve snaps, but the scene is brought to a screeching halt as Sans pops into existence next to Blueberry.

“'the hell is going on up here?”

He turns first to Edge, his gaze lingering for a second on the prepared attack before he turns and focuses on you and Stretch. His smile breaks but he doesn’t so much as twitch. Stretch, too afraid to move, locks eyes with him. It’s all Sans needs.

He turns back to Edge. “put 'em away.”

“THAT VILLAIN HAS DONE SOMETHING TO OUR HUMAN!! I DEMAND THAT HE PAY WITH-”

“i said, put 'em away.”

The second sentence is barely a fraction louder than the first. However, Edge stutters, suddenly unsure.

“better do what he says, boss,” Red adds. Sweat is beading on his skull visibly as he shifts in place. He looks ready to move quickly, although whether to physically hurl himself at Edge or throw himself between him and the two of you is unclear. His hand curling and uncurling into a fist. Sans’ gaze lingers on him for a second before he turns his full attention back to the taller of the two brothers.

Edge looks back and forth between him and Sans for a second before shooting Stretch a look that could only be described as blood-thirsty. However, the onslaught of bones melt out of existence as he adjusts his stance. His hands are balled into fists though, and a wisp of red is still curling from an eyesocket.

Sans, however, seems satisfied and walks purposefully over to Stretch. “what happened?”

Stretch shakes his head, sinking back to his knees, mostly for Sans’ benefit but also in small part out of relief.

“no idea. we were talking and… she just blacked out.”

Sans runs his gaze over you much in the same way Stretch first did. As Stretch watches him, hoping  his counterpart had more experience with humans than he did, he feels a pair of arms clasp around his upper arm and squeeze uncomfortably tight. He looks over to see Blue clinging to him. His face is set in a hard, protective frown, but there’s a threat of tears in the corners of his eye sockets.

Blue coming closer seemed to break the spell as Papyrus clears the distance in three long strides, kneeling beside his brother and wringing his hands painfully. Red stumbles after him, leaning down on Sans’ other side and putting a hand on his doppleganger’s shoulder for support. Edge hangs back, but he appears to be twitching. He’s no longer paying Stretch any attention, focusing only on you.

Red starts to say something but has to swallow before trying again.

“is she ok?” From the look on his face it seems this was not the original question he was going to ask.

Stretch can’t help but notice his fingers are digging into Sans’ shoulder in a way that must be hurting him, but Sans doesn’t even look up.

“no signs of trouble,” Sans answers. He’s taken hold of your wrist by now. “did she say anything before she fainted?”

“i dunno,” Stretch gives a slight shrug, watching him. “somethin’ about ramen? wait no. she said she skipped lunch or something. she seemed kinda out of it and I asked how she was doing when…” He trails off, racking his memories for anything else he might have missed.

Sans moves to pick you up and Stretch doesn’t protest. He turns and starts walking towards the stairs, heading for the loft.

“bro, open your phone and do a search for any doctors or clinics in the area that’re still open,” He says, not slowing down his walk. “red, you stay here with your brother.”

“like hell!” Red spits, following after him. Sans turns and looks like he’s about to argue but seems to think better of it.

“THE FEW DOCTORS NEAREST US ARE CLOSED FOR THE DAY, BUT I HAVE A NUMBER FOR AN EMERGENCY CLINIC, SANS! SHOULD I CALL THEM?!” Papyrus interrupts.

Sans shakes his head as he walks up the stairs. “nah. give the phone to red. you stay here with stretch and…” he pauses, “…make edge a cup of tea or something.”

“TEA?? RIGHT NOW?!” Papyrus looks confused but turns to Edge who’d been watching you like a hawk. “WOULD YOU LIKE SOME, EDGE??”

Edge jolts at the sound of his nickname and opens his mouth to yell more insults at the suggestion but Stretch cuts him off.

“yeah. yeah, tea sounds like a good idea.”

He pushes himself to his feet, a hand instinctively searching for his cigarettes in his hoodie pocket only to come up empty. He’d forgotten he didn’t carry them around that much anymore.

“I’LL PUT THE KETTLE ON!” Blue announces, punctuating the sentence with a slight stomp of a foot before turning and practically running towards it.

“NORMALLY I’D SAY CAFFEINE IS A BAD IDEA AT THIS TIME OF NIGHT, BUT I KNOW WE HAVE SOME OF THE GREY EARL STUFF Y/N DRINKS IN THE CUPBOARD!” Papyrus adds, walking over.

He pauses next to Edge and reaches out to him as though to coax him into the kitchen, but stops short of actually touching him.

“FINE,” Edge finally relents, shirking away from Papyrus’ hand and still looking ready to lash out.

Stretch sinks into a chair at the table and cradles his forehead in a hand, letting out a long breath.

“three sugars,” he mumbles to whoever is listening.

Edge makes a sharp noise at this, ripping his own chair from the table with a painful screech before plonking down on it, crossing his arms. When Stretch glances at him through his fingers, he notices Edge’s hands are shaking as he avoids eye-contact.

Blueberry and Papyrus have a brief, empty argument about the proper way to make tea before Stretch stands up, legs finally feeling strong enough to support him again, and goes to make the tea himself. He ends up making Edge, Blue and Papyrus’ too after Papyrus manages to spill an entire sugar bowl into his first attempt.

Stretch walks over and carefully holds Edge’s cup out to him, motioning for him to take it.

Edge stares at Stretch’s hand as if it was a cockroach before scoffing and taking the mug a little more forcefully than what was called for.

“IT’S PROBABLY TOO SWEET AND YOU PUT TOO MUCH MILK IN IT!” he barks, cupping the mug in both hands. His cheeks were flared red though, and he still avoids looking Stretch in the eye. However, it’s clear this was more out of self-conscious guilt than anger.

Stretch merely shrugs, sinking back in his own chair. It was as close to an apology he was likely to get but he accepted it.

“IS Y/N GOING TO BE OK, PAPY?” Blue asks, picking up a chair and putting it down deliberately closer to Stretch than normal. He’s obviously still shaken up and Stretch notices he keeps shooting Edge a nervous glance when he thinks the taller skeleton won’t notice.

Stretch puts an arm around his shoulders, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “sans knows what he’s doin’.”

Another scoff from Edge but Papyrus is quick to beam at them and interrupt.

“OF COURSE! SANS IS VERY SMART DESPITE WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE! AND HE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT HUMANS!! WHEN FRISK FIRST SHOWED UP HE WENT THROUGH A 'HUMAN FIRST AID’ OBSESSION AND SEEMED REALLY FASCINATED WITH IT FOR A WHILE! HE’LL KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

“there ya go,” Stretch gives Blue a grin, but mentally he stores that little titbit of information for later.

Blue smiles back but it looks forced. “THAT’S GOOD TO HEAR. I WAS REALLY WORRIED WHEN I SAW YOU HOLDING HER!”

Stretch merely gives a tight nod to this. The truth was if Blue wasn’t sitting next to him right know he’d take a shortcut to join Sans and Red without a second thought. But he got it. Sans wants him to keep Blue reassured and Edge calmed down. At least Papyrus was there as support. He was more level-headed that Stretch would’ve expected.

“I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED?” Papyrus said, although he appeared to be thinking out loud, his thumbs tracing the edge of his mug nervously.

Edge was still clutching his mug in his hands, staring at the loft in silence. His usual scowl completely missing.

 

* * *

 

When you come to, you’re immediately struck with a pounding headache. You irritably note how for a split second just as you’re waking up, your head felt fine but in less than a moment, it shoots full of pain as you come to your senses, as if it’d been waiting for you.

You make a noise somewhere between a groan and a grumble as you reach up to rub at your eyes with the balls of hands. What was happening again?

You remember being in the kitchen to get something to eat and talking to Stretch. Did you actually eat? You can’t remember. However, as you run the events over in your head you don’t think so. Actually, you don’t remember coming upstairs at all. You do remember suddenly feeling very light-headed though.

A thought hits you and you snap open your eyes, looking around.

You are in your bed in the loft, under the covers but still fully clothed. On the nightstand was a glass of orange juice as well as a box of crackers. The bedside lamp was still on. You move to sit up but immediately regret it, your headache pounding a little harder.

“you awake, kiddo?” a voice asks as soon as you start to shift around.

You turn and find Sans sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the bed. However when he sees you’re awake he moves up to sit on the mattress itself. You notice him look you over as if to assess you.

Dammit.

“I’m gonna take a guess here that I didn’t get back to bed on my own,” you mumble with a sigh, feeling more embarrassed the longer you think about it.

“you’re finally up?!” Somebody else blurts out and you start. You hadn’t realised anyone else was there.

Red scrambles off the chair at your desk and almost clambers onto the bed. He looks flustered but quickly replaces his expression with a shaky grin. “ya doin’ alright now, sweetheart?! not gonna shut down on us again are ya?!”

Red’s overly cheery comments fail to hide is worry completely, and you can’t help but feel incredibly guilty but also a little stupid.

“Yeah,” You shift and sit up properly, your mortification and need to prove you’re ok overriding the pain in your temples. “I mean no. I’m sorry I.. I guess I fainted or something.”

“somethin’ like that,” Sans says, giving you a smile that doesn’t look that cheerful to you.

Red’s grin tightens and moves forward. He’s now fully kneeling on the bed as he leans into you. “you ’ _guess_ ’ you fainted?! sweetheart you just about gave me a _heart-attack_!”

You flinch at this. Honestly, you only ever remember fainting once before when you were in your late teens. Granted you remember very clearly coming close once or twice since then, but you’d never considered it a serious possibility. You can feel your cheeks burning both with embarrassment as well as shame for clearly making your friends worry about you.

“I’m sorry,” you say before you can stop yourself. “I know, I should’ve had some lunch or something way earlier. I just forgot.”

It’s a lame excuse and you know it. Red makes a drawn out noise that sounds like a strangled goat as he leans back again, rubbing his forehead with a long-suffering expression.

“goddammit y/n… do you have _any_ idea the shit that was going through my head when-”

“better get something in ya,” Sans says, cutting him off and nodding towards the night stand. “doc said you wouldn’t be up for anything big but it should help.”

“Doc,” you repeat as you reach for the orange juice. You can actually feel your blush deepening. “You called a doctor?”

“of course we did!” Red snaps out of his slump. His strained cheerfulness crumbling into something like anger although you’re not entirely sure why. “we don’t exactly have a human manual lying around! we had no idea what the fuck was going on!”

“sorry,” Sans sighs, “he refused to go away until he saw you wake up for himself.”

“It’s ok,” You mumble which gets a bark of 'like hell!’ from Red but it sounds half-hearted at best. “I didn’t mean to make you guys worry about me.”

Red’s words struck something in you though. You’d never even considered that your housemates didn’t understand at least the obvious basics of human first aid. Having spent almost all your life around other humans, the thought that someone wouldn’t even know where to start if you got hurt never really occurred to you. Then again, even if the skeletons in the lodge all had first aid training you figure seeing someone black out for no reason would make anyone freak out. You try and imagine what it must have been like for them to have you suddenly pass out and they had no idea how to help.

A nasty voice in the back of your head remarks 'if the roles were switched how would you feel? You don’t know anything about monster first aid.’

The thought spurs you to shift where you’re sitting so you can face Red before you lean and put your arms around his shoulders, tugging him close.

He tenses but only for a second before he sinks against you.

“I’m ok,” You say again but softer, and this time Red doesn’t argue with you. He lets out a long breath as he wraps his arms around you in return. You can feel his hands trembling.

You turn to glance at Sans and, without letting go of Red, hold out a hand to him. He seems to think something over for a moment before he shifts closer and takes it. You feel him run his thumb back and forth over your skin as he gives you a squeeze a little harder than you expected.

“don’t do that again, alright kid?” He says, apparently addressing the bedsheets.

You nod as Red grumbles something irritably into your hair. You can feel him gripping the back of your shirt in his fists.

A memory that’d been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes finally hits you and you pull back.

“I was talking to Stretch in the kitchen,” you say, suddenly worried. “Where is he? I must’ve scared him to death!”

Red makes a small motion that seems like a flinch but he shifts at the same time and you decide you must’ve misread it.

“he’s downstairs making sure you don’t have the whole lodge parked on your bed,” Sans says but then adds, “i’ll send him up to say hi if you want.”

“Yeah,” you nod. “Yeah I think so. Shit. I dunno what he must’ve thought when I just fell over halfway through a conversation. Crap, I feel so bad.”

“i’ll tell him you’re up and doing ok,” Sans says, letting go of your hand to push off the bed. “c'mon fangs.”

“yeah no. i’m fine staying here, thanks,” Red growls.

“Red, I promise I’m fine,” You insist.

The look Red gives when he turns back to you almost makes you grab him in a hug again. He’s trying to hide it (badly) but it’s not hard to figure out he’d been absolutely terrified the whole time you were out cold. He was acting like you might drop dead if he so much as left the room.

“'be better if you came back downstairs,” Sans says as he moves to leave the room. “some guys in the kitchen are still kinda on edge.”

Red breaks eye contact with you and looks torn for a second before he sighs and gets up.

“yeah yeah. alright, i hear ya,” He turns back to you as he follows Sans out, “but YOU better stay put until i get back or so help me!”

“I’m not really in a rush to go anywhere just yet, Red,” you say honestly.

He seems satisfied for the moment as the two of them leave.

-

Partway down the stairs Sans speaks up without turning around;

“you know if your bro hadn’t been so loud i’d still be downstairs while all this was goin’ on.”

Red shoots him a frown, not liking his tone, “is that suppose to mean somethin’?”

Sans gives a noncommittal shrug. “just sayin’, it’s a good thing he’s got no volume control. things almost got nasty there for a sec.”

Red bristles at this, grabbing hold of Sans’ shoulder. It takes all his self restraint not to grab him by the back of his hood.

“if you got somethin’ to say just say it!”

Sans turns to face him with that guarded expression that Red could never properly figure out but nevertheless pissed him off.

“just thinking out loud,” he blatantly lies and Red feels like strangling him. “it’s been a while since a fight broke out.”

“it wasn’t a fight,” Red immediately turns defensive. “nobody even _sneezed_ on anyone!”

Sans hums at this, staring Red down. “still. probably a good thing i showed up when i did. didn’t really look like you were gonna stop your brother from doing something stupid.”

This time Red _does_ grab a fist full of hoodie and tugs him closer, his already frayed nerves wearing thin.

“if you fucking try to paint me as some kinda bad guy in this mess for god knows what reason i’m seriously gonna throw you down these stairs and make it look like an accident!”

Sans’ shrugs, completely unphased by the empty threat and acting oblivious to the hand gripping his jacket.

“no idea what you’re talkin’ about, red. any moron can see your bro was upset and scared outta his mind. he freaked out and overreacted. i’m just glad he didn’t run your buddy through or anything.”

Red huffs but refuses to let his guard down, however he does let him go. “but you’re pissed i didn’t tackle him to the ground or some shit so this is somehow my fault. as usual.”

Sans gives him a steady look. It takes him a few seconds to answer as he chooses his words carefully.

“nothing happened so there’s no fault to be had. but i was thinking you…” He falls silent for a moment.

Red glares at him, waiting for him to say something out of line so he can tell him to go fuck himself.

Sans shrugs again, turning back to the front. “nevermind. you seem to be ok now.”

Red glowers at his back before following after him, stuffing his hands into his pockets with emphasis and acting as offended as possible to hide the uncomfortable confusion in his chest. If he didn’t know any better, that almost… _almost_ sounded like Sans was worried about him.

He almost gags at the thought.

Edge leaps to his feet as soon as they enter the kitchen, the scrape of the chair causing the other three in the room to jump.

“WELL?? IS SHE GOING TO MAKE IT?!”

Red grimaces at the choice of words. “she’ll be ok, boss. her blood pressure just tanked.”

Edge pulls himself up to his full height, crossing his arms in front of him. “THAT IS THE WORST MOST PATHETIC EXCUSE I HAVE EVER HEARD!! DO THESE HUMANS NOT HAVE ANY KIND OF STAMINA AT ALL?! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

“SO SHE’S ALRIGHT?” Blue pipes up, standing up from his chair to lean on the table.

Red nods. He digs in a pocket until he finds a crooked cigarette and promptly lights it, deciding any complaints could get fucked today.

“yeah. she woke up and ate somethin’. looks like she’s fine.”

Edge throws his hands in the air.

“THE SECOND SHE’S BETTER I’M TAKING Y/N OUT AND WE’RE DOING SOME ENDURANCE TRAINING! I REFUSE TO LIVE UNDER THE ROOF OF SOMEONE WHO ALMOST DIES JUST BECAUSE THEY SKIPPED LUNCH!!”

While Edge rants, Sans leans over to Stretch and says something Red doesn’t catch. The orange-clad skeleton gives a nod and gets up, wandering out the room, His pace is a little quicker than his usual trudge.

“she didn’t almost die, boss,” Red says absently before turning to him and adding, “promise.”

Papyrus gets up, heading to boil the kettle again as he beams at the room in general. “I TOLD YOU SANS WOULD FIX IT! SEE?! I WASN’T WORRIED AT ALL!”

Edge scoffs at this with a sneer, but can’t completely mask his own relief.

“two sugars, paps,” Sans says as he takes Stretch’s seat.

 

* * *

 

There’s a knock and you call for the person to come in before Stretch enters. You smile sheepishly when you see him, feeling like an idiot all over again.

“Hey Stretch. Sorry I er… left you hanging,” Your attempt to find a way to joke about the situation fails amazingly and you resist the urge to hide under the covers.

Stretch however chuckles as if you’d just delivered a top quality pun. “ya know you could’ve just _told_ me i was boring you to sleep, hun.”

You can’t help but give a snort at this and Stretch’s smile widens considerably. He walks over and sits himself on the side of the bed, crossing one leg over the other.

“red didn’t try to crush you when you woke up, did he?” He muses, making small talk as he inspects your face. You still look pale.

You give a proper laugh at this. “Give him a break, Stretch. He seemed pretty freaked out.”

However the admission causes your smile to fall a little as guilt writhes up in your gut again. Stretch gives a thoughtful sigh and leans back on his arms, staring at the sky-light for a moment.

“maybe next time give us a heads up if you’re feeling out of it, huh?” He says eventually.

You give a sigh of your own. “I really didn’t think it was a big deal. Really. And I really _did_ just forget to grab something to eat earlier. I got wrapped up in something and kinda just lost track of time.”

Stretch rolls his head onto a shoulder to look at you as you start with a defensive explanation out of habit.

“not really your fault, y/n. just saying, if you feel crappy again don’t worry about bugging us about it. somebody could’ve made you a sandwich or something.” He looks thoughtful for a moment. “ok maybe bug me, sans or red about it. at least as far as sandwiches go.”

You relax again and smile at him. “Thanks Stretch. And.. sorry again. For freaking you out.”

He makes a dismissive noise as he leans forward again. You’re relieved that he sounds fine, but as you sit and watch him little things catch your attention. The way his shoulders are tensed as he puts his hands in his pockets. The way he’s scratching an ankle with his other foot. The way he keeps shifting his weight. You suddenly feel awful in a way that has nothing to do with your headache.

You pull the covers aside and scootch closer. He turns to blink at you but doesn’t move from his spot as you position yourself next to him. You loop your arm around his as you press your cheek against his shoulder, nestling a little closer against him.

He shifts and pulls his arm free of his pocket, removing it from your hold and putting it around you properly. You feel him running a hand up and down your back as he leans his head against yours. He lets out a very long breath, sinking a little more into the bed.

“dunno what the odd couple told you, but you should probably lie down,” He says, making absolutely no move to let you do so.

“I will. I just wanna sit like this for a moment,” You answer, remaining where you are.

He makes no objection, and, slowly, you feel him finally start to relax again.

 

* * *

 

The next morning you wanted to go into town for groceries but you were promptly chased back to your room, literally, by Edge who then seemed to take it upon himself to 'stand guard’ at your door. Apparently to prevent you from sneaking out by yourself. You would’ve found this an extreme overstepping of boundaries were it not for the fact that he looked so desperate to do something to take care of you without being obvious about it.

Blue and Papyrus convinced him you wouldn’t catch pneumonia or whatever he was worried about from watching tv with them in the living room though, and he relented. Much to your relief. It gave you a chance to ask Papyrus if he’d go to the supermarket for you, giving him a short shopping list.

It was still raining, limiting the amount of things the lodge could do to keep itself busy. As a result, by mid-afternoon the whole household had joined you in a movie marathon, each taking turns to pick something (resulting in more than one argument).

The idea that it wasn’t the rain that kept them there all day never even occurs to you.


End file.
